Dale's Pale Ale | Oskar Blues Grill & Brew

0 characters.
We love reviews! Turn your rating into one with ≥ 150 characters. Awesome. Thanks for the review!

In English, explain why you're giving this rating. Your review must discuss the beer's attributes (look, smell, taste, feel) and your overall impression in order to indicate that you have legitimately tried the beer. Nonconstructive reviews may be removed without notice and action may be taken on your account.

Reviews by Hoppin_mad:

More User Reviews:

For a long time I was skeptical to buy a 6 pack of this beer just due to the sheer fact that I didn't think it had any chance of rivaling Sierra Nevada. Well I can honestly say I am very happy I bought it. It closely resembles SV in looks, smell and taste. Its a great hoppy pale. Smooth and not too heavy or over powering. It is exactly what you want out of a pale. Plus who doesn't love great craft beer from a can?!

One of my go to favorites. I prefer Oskar Blues IPA when available, but my love affair with strong US-style Pale Ale's really started here with Dale's Pale. Amber in color, hoppy nose and taste, I love the experience of it every time. Has depth.

I have to say this is my new favorite APA,poured a clear deep golden with a very tight well retained 0ne finger head that stuck like glue to the pint glass dissapating ever so slowly.Intermingling aromas of biscuity lightly sweet malt and piney,resiny hop neither win out but a re a perfect match,wow what balance and hop character starts out with a suger dough-like quality but a "voluminously" big piney,resiny hop quality follows thru to the end.I'll tell you what to me its dead on what a American pale ale should be the American hop profile is there but there is some balance,damn I loved it.

L: Amber in color with a white head.
S: Citrusy hops and some caramel and bready malts.
T: Citrus, with a floral taste on the finish. Very pleasant. Caramel malt backs up the flavor.
F: Smooth, super drinkable.
O: Classic pale ale and a really nice beer for any occasion.

Backlog from 2009. On tap at the Knitting Factory. Excellent pale ale. Probably the best pale I’ve had since the last time I had a Sierra Nevada. Pleasant hop bitterness. Good til the last drop, flavor-wise and head-wise. Very piney in the aroma and flavor.

Nice looking typical American Pale Ale. Golden amber appearance with a very good head and lacing
The aroma is not terribly strong but has nice citrusy cascade hop notes.

The taste is quite juicy and fruity with a lot of citrus flavours. I tasted a lot of grapefruit and some oil hop resin. Dale's Pale Ale has quite a high level of bitterness that could push this pale ale into IPA territory if anybody wanted to regard it that way.

This beer reminded me of Sierra Nevada Pale Ale with a touch stronger flavour and a bit more bitterness. The higher abv (6.5% compared to SNPA's 5.6) may have helped make this beer taste a touch bigger.

A very enjoyable American Pale Ale with a good high level of fruity hop flavour.

A very good beer that lives up to the hype. The tap delivers a well-carbonated copper hue with firm, froathy head formation and great retention- lots of lacing on the glass. A mild has persists, likely from dry-hopping. Aromas of abundant hops- a lot of grapefruit, orange zest, pine, and lemon grass. A firm malt backbone follows with low-lying sweetness and hints of bready crusts. Low fruitiness from esters and low phenolics. Flavors bring about a crisp malty flavor with low sweetness (only to balance). The hops are definately showcased with a burst of flavors like those found in the nose. The malts round out the hops with light fruitiness (kinda English-like only better attenuated). The body is medium, yet firm with a crisp, malty snappyness. Finishes with a clean, dry, hoppy note. On par with Sierra Nevada's Pale Ale.

Dale's Pale Ale pours a clear amber with a nice two finger head. The head seems to last a while and when it does break there is quite nice lacing left in its wake. The smell is heavily malts, with hops behind those bready notes. The hops does not smell super strong on this, but that changes with the taste. The taste sees the malts still present, but the hops come more to the front. The carbonation is moderate, there is a medium body to the beer and I definitely get a dry finish.

All in all a fairly good beer. It might be nice to enjoy a couple of these as you sit on the dock at the lake. I don't think it is my favorite of the style, but I would enjoy this again.

Similiar to Jeppson's Malört... The aftertaste of Dale's Pale Ale tastes like an abortion clinic in Iceland. The charcoal filtered flavor makes you feel like you're being picked on in fifth grade. Malört actually tastes better.

If there's a best value award, Dale's takes it. Are there better IPAs out there? You bet, but not for a 9 dollar sixer.
I'll walk into the shop, and if I see Dale's in there, I'm always tempted to pick it up. Always.

Particulate-choked pumpkin with butternut edges. The initially zesty carbonation settled down within minutes, having created a lovely looking head of pastel orange that looks to be chock full of hop oils. It's melting impossibly slowly and is leaving a nearly completely covered glass in its wake. A truly first-class look.

The nose is absolutely loaded with at least one, and probably a few, of the 4-Cs. Oskar Blues will only admit to 'four kinds of American hops', but there's no doubt that grapefruit peel and oranges are on parade. More specifically, brown sugary, pine sap-dipped, candied grapefruit and orange zest chunks. Many IPAs would be proud to have a nose this hopaliciously good.

Dale's Pale Ale isn't quite as stunning on the palate. I can't say that I've had another beer from a can that tasted as much like the can as this one does. I'm sure these things are lined in this day and age, but there's a definite metallic quality to the flavor that isn't sitting well with me. Thankfully, the metal fades quickly and is all but gone by the third mouthful. In its place is a firmly hoppy pale ale that isn't as brilliant as the nose implied. It's no slouch, but I'm not tempted to reach for any words more complimentary than 'good'.

This is definitely a well-malted APA. There's too much caramel for my tastes, but at least the brewers have seen fit to balance it (some would say overbalance it) with a boatload of hops. Dale's is a larger-than-life pale ale, one of the biggest I've had, but it still doesn't knock Alpha King from its perch. The abundant ingredients result in a long, lingering finish that highlights the clinging resinousness of the hops.

As already alluded to, the mouthfeel is medium-full in general and bursting at the seams for the style. Rarely do pale ales achieve this degree of viscous chewability and mouthcoating stickiness. Carbonation works behind the scenes to lighten things a little and very nearly fails in the attempt.

Before popping the tab, I wondered whether Dale's Pale Ale would supplant my favorite canned beer of all-time, Caldera Pale. Caldera's version is my clear favorite, although from what I remember, the scores are similar. This is an excellent choice (when glass is verboten) for those hopheads lucky enough to have access.

A big pale ale for a lover of big beers. If you like West Coast IPAs, you'll like this one. Very hoppy, yet with a well-balanced flavor.

From a can, poured into pint glass.

Appearance- A nice amber-orange. Not much of a head, but somehow carbonation lingers in aftertaste.

Smell- A pleasant combination of alcohol and hops with a little malt. Somehow, it punches you in the nose every time you come back to smell again. You don't adapt to it. That's what I like most about it.

Taste- Delicious representation of the smell. Strong hops up front, especially for a pale ale, then dry malt. I get some lemon lingering afterwards. Want one more note (some sweetness?), but great.

Mouthfeel- The malt/lemon sits on the tongue nicely. "Carbonation" stays too. Something about the aftertaste feels like bubbles on your tongue.

I find it very drinkable and pleasant, with the taste complexity of a sipping beer and a lack of heaviness so that you could have more than one. Excellent deliciousness.

Appearance  This is a bright and clear orange in color with a very weak head.

Smell  The aroma here is a nice mixture of citrusy hops with just a touch of pine. The malt backbone is not prominent but cant be missed by the thoughtful drinker.

Taste  Wow, this beer really opens up at the taste. The orangy hops are really big and bitter for an APA. The malts are definitely an afterthought.

Mouthfeel  This one is not big in the body, maybe between light and medium, but the lingering bitterness is huge and never-ending.

Drinkability  Theyd call this an IPA in many parts of the country. I would have liked to have seen a bit bigger body to go with the massive hop bitterness, but if you like hoppy bitter brews youll enjoy this one. Its probably the hoppiest beer that you can drink right down then crush the container flat against your forehead (all the while singing, Louie, Louie, of course).

So these guys finally made it to Michigan. First Oskar Blues beer other than Ten Fidy... Poured from the can into a pint glass. Deep amber near the bottom with some lighter, shining copper throughout the middle and top. Translucent, half clear and half hazy, allowing much light to pass through. The foamy white head is very fine and reduces to a skin and a ring pretty quickly, leaving very modest lacing behind.

Light and laid back is how I would describe the aroma initially. A little blast of citric hops helps inject that classic "American Pale Ale" aroma into the nose - an aroma that we've all come to know and love. Loaded with sweet, juicy grapefruit, orange zest, moderate pine, and a lovely amount of sticky hop oils.

There's no denying that this is an American Pale Ale, at least from the aroma alone. The malts on the nose bring up the rear with a very mild sweetness. I'm not getting hints of malts any darker than toasted bread, so I'm getting that no (or extremely little) caramel malt is used in the bill. Wouldn't want anything distracting those American hops, right?

Upon taking a sip, three words seemed to jump out at me immediately (at least according to my notes): grapefruit peel, oranges, pine resin. I've gotta say, that sums it up pretty well. Hints of candied citrus and grapefruits line the edges of a road paved with lots of hops; piney, oily, resinous, and wet.

A mild earthy spice builds up beneath the heavy citrus as the bitterness crescendos and fades pretty quickly, never really reaching what I'd call a "high" level. The malts don't really stand out until the finish, when much of the hop character has begun to settle down a bit - sweet bread and hop oils line my mouth during the outro. Thin-medium body with medium-high carbonation.

I enjoy the APA style, mainly because of the nice hop jolt they deliver while remaining (at least somewhat) sessionable. Dale's Pale Ale follows those guidelines quite nicely - a solid deliverance of hoppy goodness and sky-high drinkability. I'm starting to like the guys at Oskar Blues.